Automatic Alternator Synchronisation

7/29/2019 Automatic Alternator Synchronisation

1/24

Seminar 2010 Automatic alternator synchronisation

ABSTRACT

The manual method of synchronization demands a skilled

operator and the method is suitable for no load operation or normal frequency

condition. Under emergency condition such as lowering of frequency or synchronizing

of large machines a very fast action is needed, which may not be possible for a human

operator. Thus there is a need of autosynchroniser in a power station or in an industrial

establishment where generators are employed. This paper describes a microprocessor

based set up for synchronizing a three phase alternator to a busbar. Also existing

methods of synchronization are mentioned.

1

S.B.C.E Department of EEE


2/24


CONTENTS

Page no:

1. INTRODUCTION 3

2. EXISTING METHODS OF SYNCHRONISATION 4

3. CRITERIA OF DESIGN 6

4. HARDWARE DETAILS 7

5. PROGRAM STRUCTURE 12

6. FLOWCHART 14

7. SYNCHRONISING 21

8. ADVANTAGES 22

9. RESULT 23

10. CONCLUSION 24

11. REFERENCE 25

1



3/24


INTRODUCTION

It is well known that electrical load on a power system or an

industrial establishment, is never constant but it varies. To meet the requirement of

variable load , economically and also for assuring continuity of supply the number of

generating units connected to a system busbar are varied suitably . The connection of

an incoming alternator to system bus, ie; synchronization requires fulfillment of the

condition like the same phase sequence equality of voltages and frequency between

the incoming machine and frequency between the in coming machine and busbar. In

order to order to overcome the 9 technical drawbacks of the conventional

synchronization methods we can introduce a microprocessor based system.

1



4/24


EXISTING METHODS OF

SYNCHRONIZATION AND PRINCIPLE

a. Synchronizing Lamp

The operation of connecting an alternator parallel with another

alternator or with a common busbar is known as synchronizing for proper

synchronization of alternators the following three conditions must be satisfied

1. The terminal voltage of incoming machine must be the same as the busbar voltage.

2. The speed of the incoming machine must be same such that the frequency is equal to

the busbar frequency.

3. The phase of the alternator voltage must be identical to the busbar voltage.

It means that the switch must be closed at the instant the two voltages are in

correct phase.

Condition 1 can be checked with the help of voltmeter, frequency is adjusted

by varying the prime mover speed. In the dark lamp method the lamps are connected

across the alternator and busbar terminal. If the phase sequence is different, the lamps

will brighten in a cyclic manner correct phase sequence is indicated by simultaneous

darkening brightening of lamps. The switch is closed in the middle of the dark period.

Once synchronized properly, the two alternators continues to run in synchronism.

1



5/24


b. sychroscope

The armature of the sychroscope will align itself so that the axis of

windings are R and F are inclined at an angle equal to phase displacement between V

and V. If there any difference between the frequencies of V and V a pointer attached

to the armature shaft will rotate at slip speed, and the direction of its rotation will

indicate whether the incoming machine is running above or below synchronism. At

synchronism, the pointer will remain stationary, but it must be brought to the particular

position which indicates zero phase displacement between V and V before the main

switch of the incoming generator is closed.

AUTOMATIC SYCHRONISATION

Synchronisation by means of manually operated switching served well

enough when the individual generators were relatively small, but with the growth of

system capacity, it becomes necessary to use automatic devices to ensure the closing

of the main switch of the incoming machine at the proper instant.

The scheme introduced here is for the complete automation of

synchronization i.e.; the adjustment of magnitude of voltage and frequency of incoming

alternator is done automatically. When all the requirements of synchronisation are

satisfied, closing of the main switch of the incoming machine is done by the automatic

1



6/24


synchronizer

CRITERIA OF DESIGN

The auto synchronizer has been developed to carry out the following tasks related to

the synchronization such as

I To check if the phase sequence of incoming machine is correct or

otherwise, in case of wrong phase sequence, to terminate the further steps in the

process and also to indicate corrective action.

II To check if frequency of incoming machine is equal to that of busbar and to

adjust it to a value nearly equal to the busbar frequency.

III to check machine voltage is equal to that of busbar and to adjust it to a

value nearly equal to the busbar voltage and

IV After ascertaining the fulfillment of the above condition, to give closing

signal to the circuit breaker so that the breaker will close the exact inphase instant.

In addition, the auto synchronizer has been designed so that the alternator is

started with in minimum voltage and minimum frequency conditions

1



7/24


HARDWARE DETAILS

The hardware has been designed to fulfill all the requirements of the

synchronizing process.

Block diagram of auto synchronizer setup is shown in fig (1)

A microprocessor trainer kit is used as a controller for the setup. Also the figure

showing the auto synchronizer setup consist of

a Frequency control unit

b Voltage control unit

c Potential transformer unit

d Signal conditioning card

e Display card and

f Circuit breaker with the switching circuit.

1 Frequency Controlling Unit

The frequency of an alternator can be changed by varying the speed of

the prime mover which is a DC shunt motor in this case .A rheostat is provided in the

field circuit of the motor for this purpose The frequency controlling unit is a lead screw

arrangement driven by a stepper motor attached to the variable point on the rheostat

the stepper motor (SM1) is controlled by an 8085 microprocessor system through a

driver circuit.

2 Voltage Controlling Unit

1



8/24


Once frequency of alternator is fixed, or adjusted, its voltage is

controlled by variation of excitation current. This excitation current is varied by

providing a rheostat in the field circuit of the alternator. The automatic variation of

excitation current is obtained by lead screw and stepper motor (SM2) arrangement

similar to the one used for frequency control.

3 Potential Transformer Unit

This unit consists of a bank of four shell type transformer (P.Ts). Out of

the four transformers thee are used for stepping down three phase voltages ofalternator and the remaining one is used for stepping down the voltage of the phase R

of the bus bar. The potential transformers connected to the phase R of the bus bar and

the phase R of the alternator are having two secondaries. Hence one secondary is

used for voltage measurement and the other is used for frequency measurement .The

potential transformers connected to the Y and B phases have only one secondary each

4 Signal Conditioning Card

It is subdivided into (i) signal conditioning card and (ii) ADC subunit.

The signal conditioning subunit consists of for identical circuits each of

which comprises of a zero crossing detector (ZSD)(for ralt,yalt,balt and rbus) two

rectifier and filter circuits for ralt2 and rbus2 and an inphase sequence detector and an

inphase instant detector as shown in fig.(1).

1



9/24


1



10/24


1



11/24


BLOCK DIAGRAM OF MICROPROCESSOR BASED

1



12/24


ALTERNATOR SYNCHRONISATION

ZCD OUTPUT WAVEFORM

1



13/24


The ZSD converts sinusoidal output of potential transformer secondary to rectangular

signal Fig.3 shows the ZSD output waveforms these square waves are fed to

microprocessor system for measurement of frequency and phase sequence detection

using developed software

The rectifier and filter circuits converts the AC signal of ralt2 and rbus2 to DC signal

compatible for ADC 0809.These are used for the voltage measurements of the

alternator and the bus.Inphase instant detector circuit is used for detecting the inphase instant

of signals ralt1and rbus1 which is the correct instant for synchronization.

The ADC subunit consists of ADC0809 interfaced with

8085-microprocessor system. The clock required for this ADC is derived from a

frequency divider circuit made up of three 7490 counter ICs. The clock available on

microprocessor kit of 1.7 MHz, which is divided by further factors 5, 10, 10. Therefore

out of three available outputs, 340 KHz and 3.4 KHz outputs are used respectively for

the ADC 8255. The digital output corresponding to the alternator and busbar voltages

are obtained using separate channels for alternator and busbar voltages

5 Display Card

Display card has been provided for indication of messages during

alternator synchronization process it uses four seven segment LED displays to

represent the three inphase synchronization conditions and circuit breaker position.

Also the kit display is used for displaying messages such as HALT,DONEetc.

1



14/24


6 Circuit Breaker With Switching Circuit

The circuit breaker used as a synchronizing switch is in the form of a

direct on line starter .In order to operate the circuit breaker, its operating coil is

connected to 230 V d.c Supply through electromagnetic relay. The relay is activated at

proper instant by the microprocessor so that the circuit breaker is closed at the correct

inphase instant.

PROGRAM STRUCTURE

The main program performs the following functions.

1. Phase sequence detection

2. Alternator frequency measurement and its adjustment

3. Alternator voltage measurement and its adjustment, and

4. Synchronizing at zero phase difference condition

1



15/24


The following subroutines are developed and called in the main program

1 IN PHASE : The subroutine checks the in phase instant of Ralt and Rbus

Where Ralt refers to the phase R of the incoming alternator

Rbus1 refers that of the bus bar.2 LSW : This subroutines checks if the limit switch is closed or not

3 SM : Rotates the stepper motor in either direction

4 KCLOSE : Checks the closure of the key handled by the operator

5 PSEQ : Checks the phase sequence of the alternator

6 FRQ : Measures the frequency of the alternator or bus bar

7 VOLM : Measures the voltage of the alternator or bus bar

8 CMPHD : Compares the contents of HL and DE register pair

9 SUBDH : Subtract the contents of DE pair from contents of HL pair

10 In addition the following monitor subroutines are used whenever required :

a. CRLF clears the display

b OUT MSG displays the given message on the display

c delay provides delay in the program

d DONE Displays the message DONE

Fig (4) shows flowchart of the main program for autosynchronising setup. The

status of the limit switches LS1and LS2 are checked. These are provided with

the field circuit rheostats of exciter and driving motor. Accordingly the stepper

motors are rotated in appropriate directions to obtain initial positions

respectively of field rheostat (Rf) and exciter rheostat (Rex) . ht emessage

START is displayed indicating operator to start the DC motor (prime mover).

When the operator sees the prompt, he switches ON the DC motor of the

alternator. Once the alternator is started, it develops some voltage at some

frequency; following sequence of events will take place automatically.

1. Detection of phase sequence

1



16/24


2. Frequency measurement and control

3. Voltage measurement and control

4. Synchronizing

FLOWCHART

1



17/24


DETECTION OF PHASE SEQUENCE

Before alternator is connected to the busbar first of all we have to ensure that the

phase sequence of the incoming alternator is the same as that of the busbar. The

program checks the ZCD outputs corresponding to Ralt and Yalt phases for their low

to high transitions and count corresponding to time T1 as shown in fig (8) is obtained

using subroutine PSEQ. Similarly the ZCD outputs corresponding to Ralt and Balt

are measured or checked for their zero to one transition and count corresponding to

time T2 is obtained. To check the phase sequence, T1 and T2 are compared . When T1

is greater than T2, the phase sequence is not correct. This condition is indicated by N

and the display of message HALT will be there and the programexecution is stopped

on the other hand, if T1 is less than T2, the phase sequence is OK or correct and is

indicated by O. There after the program control is transferred to frequency

measurement and control part.

FREQUENCY MEASUREMENT AND CONTROL

The subroutine FRQ written for frequency measurement of bus 0or alternator checks

1



18/24


their respective ZCD outputs for low to high transitions

In software, the register HL(for busbar signal) or DE (for alternator signal)

initialized with zero components are incremented till the ZCD outputs are in a high to

low transition . This count in HL is equivalent to the time period corresponding to thehalf cycle of alternator signal . The counts obtained inHL and DE pairs are compared.

If the count in HL is less than that of DE , it indicates that alternator frequency is less

than the busbar frequency. The difference in frequency is checked and if the difference

is greater than allowed difference (0.1Hz), then the stepper motor (SM2) is rotated to

bring the difference with in the limit, and FE is displayed when this condition is

achieved.

On the other hand, if the count in the HL pair is greater than that in DE,

alternator frequency is high and is indicated by FH. The stepper motor (SM2) is

rotated in reverse direction to bring the difference in frequency within limit till FE is

displayed.

VOLTAGE MEASUREMENT AND CONTROL

The digital output corresponding to the alternator and bus voltages are obtained by the

following method. The busbar output and the incoming alternator output are

first stepped down in the same ratio using P.T unit. These step-down transformer

signals are fed to the rectifier and filter circuits. The output from it is given to ADC

through separate channels. ADC output ie; the digital outputs are compared and the

difference of these is obtained. When the difference is less than the allowed

difference,(1%) the VE is displayed and the program execution is continued.

1



19/24


When the difference is greater than allowed difference, either VHor VL is

displayed to indicate high or low voltage of alternator respectively. The stepper motor

(SM1) is rotated in appropriate direction to bring the difference with in the limit till

VE is displayed.

SYNCHRONISING

After satisfying all these condition, the time (Ti) between consecutive inphase instants

1



20/24


of Rbus and Ralt (obtained from inphase instant detector) is measured using 8253 in

mode 0. The time interval (Ti-To) where T0 is operating time of switching circuits, is

obtained.

The closure of circuit breaker is achieved by sensing next inphase instant with delay of(Ti-T0) which will enable to switch on the circuit exactly at the next inphase instant.

ADVANTAGES OF MICROPROCESSOR

BASED ALTERNATOR SYNCHRONISATION

1. Anticipatory close signal provides smooth synchronizing with minimum

system impact.

2. Patented real-time adaptive proportional speed control algorithm provides

fast, reliable frequency matching while eliminating overshoots and

1



21/24


hunting. Includes smart target pulse to prevent hung scope condition.

(Patent #5,761,073)

3. Highly flexible design can be configured for optimum performance over

a wide range of system characteristics from sensitive, asymmetrical low

inertia to high inertia hydro systems.

4. One unit can control multiple systems with up to six different sets ofbreaker closing parameters.

5. Test module facilitates testing via front panel terminals.

6. Standard 19 inch rack-mounted case with front cover.

RESULT

1



22/24


The phase sequence has been checked by using developed prototype. When phase

sequence is R.Y.B the auto synchronizer gives a prompt to the operator by displaying

O (ie inphase sequence OK). For the improper phase sequence, ie R.B.Y., the auto

synchronizer displays n(NOT OK)and Halt instruction gets executed to stop entire

operation.

The frequency of incoming machine which depends on the speed of the alternator, ie

prime mover (dc shunt motor)is measured and adjusted to bring the difference in

frequency with in the tolerance limit.

To achieve the equality of voltages, the exciter voltage or circuit resistance was

adjusted by auto synchronizer. After obtaining proper phase sequence, equality of

frequency and voltage, the auto synchronizer has to carry out synchronization

1



23/24


CONCLUSION

The microprocessor based system of automatic synchronizer can be used more

effectively compared to conventional methods of synchronization such as dark lamp

method, bright lamp method and synchronization using sychroscope this because of the

fact that the conventional, method calls for of the operator and accuracy is less and it

depends on the sense of correct judgment of the operator. Moreover the

microprocessor based alternator synchronizer is user friendly and requires less

maintenance. It also exploits the advantage of superior performance of the

microprocessor like accuracy speed and reliability.

1



24/24


REFERENCES

1 JOURNAL OF INSTITUTION OF ENGINEERS (INDIA)

VOLUME-80, NOVEMBER1999

2 THEORY OF ALTERNATING CURRENT AND

MACHINERY

ALEXANDER.S.LANGSDORF

3 FUNDAMENTALS OF MICROPROCESSORS AND

MICROCONTROLLERS B. RAM

1

Date post:	14-Apr-2018
Category:	Documents
Upload:	hemant-patel
View:	235 times
Download:	0 times

Automatic Alternator Synchronisation

Documents